Brought about by watching one of Doron’s Clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLmC0URkDTw&t=878s&ab_channel=Doronsmovies
This got me thinking. We’ve seen classes evolve and change over the years, PvP is a hot mess but we’ve seen unique dynamics and team compositions become dominant until a new meta arises and throws it all into chaos again.
And in the Lore, apart and above from Game Balance reasons, various Champions and Villains have risen up, showcasing the heights of the power their individual Classes can achieve.
But Doron does make a small mistake by comparing all the classes to each other, together, as a single block. The problem lies in that some Classes have no theoretical upper limits to their output, but have an extremely narrow focus, while others are entirely reliant upon equipment and external power-sources that have a will of their own.
Trying to group all of these together and declare one above the other is problematic, so we’re going to break this down into categories.
Non-Magical, Hybrids and Full Casters.
Furthermore, we’re going to break these Classes down into five categories. Reliability, Durability, Offensive, Defensive and Adaptability.
Reliability is how often and how easily a Class can use their powers, and how difficult it can be to cut them off from those powers.
Durability is how durable the Class is, either to external forces or internal pressures.
Offensive will relate to the sheer, raw power they can bring to bear, and how effective that power can be against enemies and the world around them.
Defensive will relate to how easily the Class can shrug off damage, resist magical, environmental and use their powers to escape a situation.
And Adaptability will refer to how many different ways a Class can use their powers and abilities, and how effectively they can do this.
We’ll be rating the Classes with 
's, with a maximum of five 's for each category, and a short (at least by my standard) reasoning for each rating.
Non-Magical Classes
These Classes are assigned due to their use of external magical tools, use of non-magical or supernatural abilities, and reliance upon enchanted equipment to perform to their maximum.
Warrior
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Wrapped in heavy armor and masters of nearly every form of weaponry, a Warrior is a force of carnage and dominance on the battlefield at their heights, but most Warriors fall significantly short, relying heavily upon their equipment and their physical training to pull out the maximum of their abilities. They are also have a notoriously vulnerable to ranged attackers, needing to close the gap quickly or else even their thick armor and broad shields cannot save them, and magic, especially that which affects the mind such as Charm or Fear effects, can render even the most exquisitely trained human soldier or rage-fueled orc a non-issue.
Their reliance upon their weapons and equipment also limits them, but even without those tools, a Warrior’s physical abilities are almost second to none, being physically potent and inured to pain and fatigue to nearly super-human levels, and that same durability can give them an edge over and beyond the normal members of their race, allowing them to turn anything on hand into a weapon and giving them the fury and drive to overcome even the most potent mind-affecting magics for a short time.
Rogue
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Rogues are an interesting example of over-specialisation, ranging from common thugs to master thieves, opportunistic bandits to master assassins, scabby pirates to flamboyant duelists, but all focus on agility, lighter weaponry, poisons and misdirection to succeed. Rogues aim for the weak points of their targets in a way that few other Classes do, fighty dirty and rely upon surprise and distractions to kill the target with a million small cuts, or a single, eviscerating blow. And yet, they’re frighteningly fragile compared to most of their targets, relying upon leather armor and their own agility for defence, light and small weapons to make the kill, and minor magical illusions, poisons and cheap alchemical tricks like smoke-bombs and palm-pistols to cover the gaps.
A Rogue unable to escape, or facing a target that cannot bleed or does not have a traditional form that steel and poison cannot affect, is at an extreme disadvantage, and most Rogues don’t do well when confronted by overwhelming force, needing to break off and flee for their lives due to their fragility and lack of sturdy defenses. That said, their training does make a Rogue adaptable to a variety of situations, and their own knowledge of their own vulnerability means that very few Rogues will ever be caught with their pants down while on a mission or prowling through dungeons for treasure or magical items. Their specialised training even gives some Rogues access to magical tricks, never quite enough to master the raw power of a Mage’s war-magic, but enough to make it all but impossible for a mundane opponent to truly keep them pinned down for long.
Hunter
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Durability:
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From the guard patrolling the streets with their trusty blood-hound at their heels, to the Sentinel prowling the ancient forests with their owl overhead, to the lone and stoic Dwarven rifleman atop their snow-covered mountain and the cunning Troll Spirit-Hunter flanked by their enchanted beasts, Hunter are an eclectic and diverse group of individuals united only by their ability to adapt, improvise and overcome almost any situation with an array of different weapons, training and uniquely, animal companions. From Rexxar and his army of beasts and prodigious physical strength, to Vereesa Windrunner and her enchanted arrows and bow, Hunters work well at all ranges, peppering the enemy with arrows or bullets while their targets deal with some fantastical beast thrashing at them in close-range, or charging in alongside those companions with a mighty weapon in hand to take their enemy down with pack tactics that have devastated prey since before the Mortal Races learned how to make fire. Some even stand alone, using supernatural talents or enchantments focused on their ammunition to deal devastating damage at range to their foes. But in this, the Hunter also tends to suffer, for those who specialise in their camaraderie with the wild beasts of Azeroth and Beyond can find themselves suddenly on the back-foot if their beasts are slain or driven off, and their focus on ranged attacks for the most part can leave them exceptionally vulnerable if they cannot maintain range on their opponents, or if they cannot maintain a line-of-sight with their target. Their reliance upon ammunition, such as arrows or bullets, can also be extremely limiting as eventually, even the most magical quiver will run out of arrows, and the most potent of guns will overheat or jam.
That said, few Hunters are without secondary methods of completing their tasks, and the abilities they’ve honed hunting in the wilds or training with their specialised units within the armies of Azeroth give them significant more flexibility than someone who focused purely on one style of fighting, and their medium armor, chainmail, scalemail and similar, gives them a useful mix of flexibility and durability that can allow them to survive a beating long enough to turn the tables.
Monk
Now, I agonized a bit over putting the Monk in this category, but Monks don’t use magic, their use Chi, a supernatural force generated from the body itself, and thus, I did not believe it was fair or accurate to put them in the Hybrid section.
Reliability:
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Uniquely Pandaren in design, the Monk Class has spread across Azeroth, with many Races and Cultures adding their own spin or aesthetic take on the Class, but it remains very much grounded in Pandaren philosophies, especially once Chi manipulation enters the mix. Lightly armored and relying more upon dodging or deflecting attacks, and combining similar regimens of training that hones a Warrior’s body into an unassailable mountain with spiritual discipline that quiets the mind and allows the Monk to harness their Chi to produce supernatural effects, Monks are arguably the most ‘magical’ of the Non-Magical Classes, using their supernatural abilities to allow the impact of their blows to travel through armor to the vulnerable body beneath, grant themselves and their allies healing, to breathe fire and to dodge and deflect blows that would split an ordinary person in half or crush them into paste. Despite their intensive training and mental discipline, the Monk’s reliance on light armor to maintain their agility and mobility also leaves them vulnerable in combat, as a single solid blow can deal significant harm if they cannot dodge or twist so the blow is glancing.
Despite this, Monks are unique in that they are the weapon, meaning they are never disarmed and never need to equip heavy armor and shields to protect themselves, and their Chi comes from within their own bodies, generated by themselves autonomously. A Monk might run out of Chi, or find themselves temporarily locked out of it by a poison or pressure point strike, but even then, their bodies are well-honed and inured to pain and fatigue by their training, and their minds are often difficult to affect or twist, meaning illusion magic or magic that can charm, dominate or fill the target’s mind with terror find precious few chinks in that mental armor to exploit.
Hybrid Classes
These classes are assigned to the Hybrid group due to their use of a mixture of Magical and Physical abilities to fight, while lacking the extreme magical aptitude of the Full Casters and using many of the same mundane skills and training as a Non-Magical Class.
Druid
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Druids are a strange blend of magical traditions and spiritual beliefs built around the natural ecosystems of Azeroth and empowered by the interactions between the Wild Gods and the Loa, the Emerald Dream, and the mundane world. While connected to their Loa, a Wild God or the Emerald Dream itself, and surrounded by some form of plant-or animal-life, Druids are a force to be reckoned with, some even going so far as to become mystical artillery, while others shuck their forms to become terrible beasts capable of absorbing and dealing horrendous damage, or sleek, agile hunters capable of tearing their prey apart in seconds, and others still draw upon the restorative and adaptive powers of Nature and Life to mend wounds and heal the world around them. And yet, that very source of power is their achilles heel, for if they cannot draw upon the Emerald Dream or the natural world around them for power, a Druid’s magical abilities can dwindle down to nothing very quickly, leaving them to rely upon their own spiritual power or what they can beg, borrow or steal from the environment around them. Further hampering their abilities, we have seen Druids can also be easily corrupted, such as the Druids of the Flame, the Nightmare Druids, the Serpent Druids of the Wailing Caverns, all of which infected those Druids, willingly or unwillingly, by corrupting their connection to the Emerald Dream, tainting that conduit with foreign magics. Even Malfurion himself is vulnerable, as stated at the mouth of the Rift of Aln, that his own potent connection to the Emerald Dream would corrupt him in seconds if he entered the Rift directly.
Despite this, and despite lacking the raw destructive power of a Warlock or the heavy armor of a Warrior or Paladin, Druids possess a varied and adaptable suite of powers and abilities, making it very frustrating to truly lock down a Druid whose connection to the Emerald Dream remains untouched, and their ability to assume multiple forms, and even teleport into and through the Emerald Dream itself, can make a canny Druid almost impossible to stop escaping or relocating the fight to a setting more favourable to themselves.
Shaman
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In a similar vein to Druids, Shamans blend several different traits together to work their magic, quite literally so. Spiritual faith, Ancestor Spirits offering guidance to those descendants who work on behalf of their people’s best interest, Elemental Spirits offering power in exchange for balancing the chaotic forces of the Elements or by making pacts with Loa and Elemental Lords, gaining power in exchange for service and obedience. And in the case of Shamans, their power can be revoked in a heartbeat, and often without warning, if the Shaman strays from the course their patron(s) have set out for them, unless they choose to enslave spirits and elementals for power, granting themselves a steady and reliable power-source in exchange for becoming hated and feared by those spirits and elementals they haven’t been able to enslave yet.
Shamans are primarily a caster class, but use medium armor, weapons and shields, and many of their spiritual traditions also value a Warrior’s skills, so while a Shaman may never possess the raw stamina and martial skill of a front-line combatant, those shields and weapons aren’t just for show. And yet, if a Shaman is ever cut off from their power-source, they are greatly weakened, and the spiritual connections the Shamans train to create also make them extremely vulnerable to spiritual corruption, be it from the Void, turning them into Void or Dark Shamans, or severing them from the Elements and Ancestor Spirits entirely and possibly permanently, as well as potentially devolving or mutating them in the process. Despite this, Shamans can draw upon the best traits of the Elements to protect themselves and their allies with the fortitude of the earth and the healing properties of water, and blast their enemies with fire, magma, ice, lightning, gusts of wind and even localized earth-quakes, as well as veteran Shamans able to summon Elemental allies of Earth, Air and Fire, and their aforementioned armor and martial skills allow a Shaman with full grasp of their abilities to stand toe-to-toe with a great many enemies in combat and pull through.
Death Knight
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Cursed with Undeath and bound to a blade that contains their soul, and is the focus of their dark magics, Death Knights are a terrifying and monstrous foe to face, wielding unnatural cold, pestilence and plague, and being able to use the very blood and bones of their enemies against them to heal the Death Knight’s own wounds and protect them from further harm. Using Runes rather than chants and precise gestures to use their magic allows the Death Knight to wade into battle with both hands on their weapons, reducing the scope of their magic but making them terrifying effective in combat, as it becomes nearly impossible to counter or block their magic until after it has been cast. With access to Undead minions, horrendously virulent plagues and diseases, being able to cloak themselves in supernaturally cold auras that freeze blood in the vein and able to vampirically extract the blood and vitality of their foes, Death Knights would seem to be unstoppable except for their fatal flaws.
Being Undead, Death Knights are weakened on sacred or consecrated ground, and are vulnerable to the Light in a way few other Primal Powers can affect them. Furthermore, the nature of their creation, or at least the Third and Fifth Generations, means that these Death Knights must inflict pain and terror or risk a mental degeneration that will reduce them to frothing madmen, rampaging across the battlefield until their bodies are torn apart, either by their enemies or the damage they inflict on themselves during that rampage.
Despite this, the advantages of their Undead natures, needing no food nor rest, being resistant to pain and the ‘weakness’ of empathy and compassion and the formidable powers granted to them by their Runeblades and their training in Acherus, the Death Knight stand as one of the pinnacles of Undeath and one of the most terrifying forces deployed across the battlefields of Azeroth.
Paladin
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Paragons of the Light, Champions of their faiths, devoted servants of the poor and down-trodden and unflinching bulwarks against the dark forces of this world and beyond, Paladins run the gamut from the traditional Human Knight in full-plate with bastard sword and heater shield to towering Trolls in lacquered bone-armor wielding a wickedly barbed polearms festooned with trophies and talismans, to burly Tauren with Totem in hand and rough, well-worn battle-plate calling upon the Earth Mother for healing. United by a singular, unflinching belief in their ideals and the ideals of their people and faiths, Paladins are both a new and old Class, being first found amongst the ancient Tauren people before the Sundering scattered them and caused much of their ancient knowledge to be lost, to be reborn again during the Orc Wars as the Alliance attempted to blend the defensive and healing powers of the Light with the martial training and skill of their warriors to combat the Warlocks and Death Knights of the Original Horde, creating the first ‘modern’ Paladins.
Unfortunately, this very source of their power also makes them uniquely vulnerable in a way no other Class can be in WoW. Confidence. Unswering belief in their cause, and the righteousness of it. Unflinching belief that they will achieve their goals and that the Light, or their Loa, or their Ancestors, are with them. Doubt, in any way, shape or form, can weaken or even sever the connection between the Paladin and the Light, or their Patron, and that very connection to the Light does make them vulnerable to entities aligned with or composed of the Light. While this unshakeable belief in their cause and actions does not make the Paladin reckless or blind to the world around them, but it can make them stubborn or willfully ignorant of other issues.
Despite this flaw, Paladins are arguably the most defensively-minded Class in the game, their unique blend of using Light magic and martial disciplines making them potent on the battlefield, especially against Undead and other horrors from beyond the Veil, but also beacons of healing and protection for their allies and companions, even the most aggressively-minded Paladins able to provide valuable healing, cleansing diseases, magical protections and supernatural blessings that can make their allies more resistant to harm, among other effects.
Demon Hunters
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Demon Hunters are a unique and terrifying blend of Demon and Elf, with many Demon Hunters very souls twisting into ‘Demon Souls’, undying entities that will not move on after death, and will instead seek out and inhabit the body of a nearby dead Elf and resurrect it, reshaping it into a copy of their old form, even down to their special tattoos, or even re-inhabiting their own shattered corpse and repairing it enough with a burst of Fel energy. Furthermore, Demon Hunters also possess the ability to assume a Half-Demon form, similar to their mentor, Illidan Stormrage, either taking on a fast, powerful winged form capable of blinding flashes of speed and vastly increased strength, or a hulking, repulsive hulk of bulging muscles and serrated metal-like bone-spikes and ridges, capable of dealing and receiving horrendous amounts of damage while spewing Fel bile at their enemies.
And yet, the Demon Hunter’s weakness is three-fold. The ‘Demon Within’ constantly tempts the Demon Hunter towards service to the very Legion they surrendered everything to fight against, their Fel nature compels them to dark and evil actions, and that very same Fel also makes them vulnerable to effects and spells that were developed to work against Demons, specifically spells of entrapment, imprisonment and banishment, although few playable Demon Hunters have allowed their ‘Demon Within’ to expand to the point that these spells will function correctly on them. Also, their lack of armor outside of their Hulk-form leaves them vulnerable and entirely reliant upon their speed and agility to keep themselves safe from harm.
Despite this, Demon Hunters are incredibly lethal, blending fiendish strength, speed and durability with Fel sorcery, allowing themselves to burst into Fel-flame, shoot beams of concentrated Fel from their ruined eye-sockets, and even penetrate all but the most elaborate and powerful illusions, making them one of the most formidable and focused defenders against the Legion and other Demonic entities, while their abilities also make them lethal combatants against many other enemies as well … so long as the Demon Within remains tightly shackled.
Full Casters
These classes are assigned to the Full Caster group due to their exclusive use of magic to fight, while rarely, if ever, relying upon martial or non-magical methods.
Mage
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The mage is the quintessential spellcaster. Robe, staff, fireball. And yet WoW’s Mage is far more versatile, able to conjure barrages of ice, waves of fire, missiles of magical force and more. What we see in the game is the mere tip of the iceberg compared to what Mages in the Lore are capable of bringing to bear, but the more potent and dangerous spells require time, components and specialised casting tools to create, unless one is staggeringly powerful. Mages can tear open reality and teleport themselves across whole worlds, or even create short-lives tears in reality allowing small forces to traverse great distances, and even apply magic to their allies, providing protection, enhancements and more.
And yet Mages draw from an external force to create their magic, the Arcane. Be it drawn from the Leylines of Azeroth or from the currents of raw power that meander at random through the Twisting Nether, a Mage is a sponge, containing this gathered power, and once that power is expended or ‘wrung out’, a Mage has little left to offer in a fight without magical tools such as wands, staves and spell-scrolls, and those are rarely a great threat in a fight. Moreover, those long years of study, learning to control the Arcane, the mathematics and logistics behind turning raw energy into useable forms such as ice, flame or even semi-solid forms all leaves most mages relatively fragile, lacking the time or the will to engage in the rigorous physical training required to foster a robust body.
Despite all of this, a Mage who can keep the enemy at bay and keep a steady supply of magic can move mountains, literally. Magic’s limitations almost always comes down to the Caster’s knowledge, will-power and resources, rather than any limitation in the Magic itself, and the Arcane is the force of Order, creating and reshaping reality according to the will of the Caster. Dalaran floats in the sky, Suramar dwelled for 10,000 years beneath an impenetrable barrier, the Titans have reshaped and rebuilt whole solar systems in the blink of an eye with the power of the Arcane. Just be glad most Mages prefer just to turn annoying people into sheep!
Evokers
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Fast, intelligent, disciplined and curious, Evokers blend the speed and flight of a Dragon, the adaptability and drive of a Mortal, and couple it all with powers reminiscent of the abilities of the five original Dragon Flights. The strength and ferocity of the Earth, the temporal abilities of the Bronze Dragons, the healing powers of the Red and Green Flights, and the arcane devastation of the Blues. Combined with their speed and agility and their mail armor, Evoker are fast, devastating and difficult to lock down in one place at a time.
And yet, all those powers comes with a price. Evokers cannot draw upon all of their abilities at once, being limited to two, or maybe three, at a time, and their bodies are unusually frail despite their draconic heritage. Furthermore, that blend of abilities also means few Evokers can reach the raw power of a Dragon from one of the Flights, and cannot pull forth the full power of any one single Flight as a result. This blend of powers makes Evokers incredibly versatile, but it also appears to take a toll on their bodies, rendering them quite fragile for Mortals of a Draconic heritage.
Despite all of this, Evokers are arguably the most mobile and adaptable of the Full Casters, being able to both heal and harm, having access to great mobility and specialized abilities that can not only benefit themselves, but uniquely affect their allies, increasing their durability, speed, and even wrapping them in bubbles of protective magic to mitigate harm.
Priest
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Now, Priests are difficult to bring into this as a single Class, but I’m gonna try anyways.
The traditional Priest is a Holy Priest, channeling the powers of the Light, or a ‘God’ like Elune, or a Wild God or Loa, serving as the spiritual heart and soul of a community, or in larger groups, the spiritual backbone of a nation. This almost always manifests as ‘Light’ due to the way the setting works, and while the Light certainly can do harm, and a lot of it, Light as a rule is a healing and defensive magic, not a harmful one. Priests will generally heal wounds, wrap their allies in magical barriers to absorb incoming attacks, and occasionally smite somebody.
The two other breeds of Priest, Discipline and Shadow, are a different kettle of fish. Shadow is far more aggressive, losing almost all of their healing potential for sheer damage, and spreading insidious madness and creeping magical damage to their targets. Disciple instead focuses on the destructive potential as the Light and Void intermingle and destroy each other, allowing a Discipline Priest to use this explosion of energy to heal their allies while they use these mingled energies to assault their enemies.
And in this, we come to the fundamental weakness of the Class. Priests may only tap into two forms of damage, one being relatively inoffensive, the other being extremely geared towards damage over anything else, and both are opposing, and diametrically so, in terms of both agenda and power-set. Priests likewise have a spiritual connection to one or both of these powers, and double-dipping into both of these is always a risky maneuver. And as we’ve seen with the Void and the Old Gods, and recently with Xe’ra and the Light, both of these Primal Powers have agendas that most definitely do not take the sanctity of the Priest’s mind into any form of account.
Both the Light and the Void require exceptional willpower and conviction to wield, and any loss of this will and mental fortitude can have devastating results, and yet, being able to wield both of these powers provides incredible boons to the Priest and their allies.
Warlock
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Warlocks are a feared and taboo Class, and rightly so. Mastering the Fel is not for the faint of heart, and definitely does not gel well with those of upstanding moral fibre. Summoning Demons requires sacrifice, either a captured soul or a large amount of energy, be it Fel or stolen life-force, and most magic available to Warlocks is intensely corruptive and destructive, if not to the Warlock themselves, then to the world around them. Long-term exposure to Fel has been known to strip whole regions of life, even down to the microbacterial level in the soil and the water, and even a single slip-up in concentration and willpower can see the Fel consume those who dare to draw upon its emerald flames.
To be a Warlock is to be at war, for your soul, with the world, with the Demons, with anyone around you who sees your Fel magic as an existential threat, and especially other Warlocks who crave your knowledge and grimoires to add to their own. Your Demon thralls are forever testing the limits of your bindings, trying to turn the tables on you and kill you and consume your soul, or trade it for more power from their superiors, the Legion wants you to either serve it, or be consumed by it if you refuse, and all Warlocks can draw upon the Fel, normal magical Fire, and a form of Void energy referred to as ‘Shadow Magic’, gleaned from the Dreadlords themselves, that seems curiously devoid of Void corruption. This gives the Warlocks a lot of different ways to attack their enemies, especially with hordes of Demons, conjured Fel-infused constructs known as Infernals, or devastating Curses that will quite literally eat your enemies alive, but a single slip-up or lapse of control can spell disaster for a Warlock.
Despite this, they possess access to the forbidden lore of the Demons, can create Demonic Gates that can allow a Warlock and their allies to traverse great distances, or even jump from world to world, their consumptive magic also allows them to store life-force into magically created gems to heal themselves and their allies, and their mastery of the forbidden arts of soul manipulation allows them to create Soulgems, allowing a Warlock to cheat death, albeit not perfectly.
So, what do you think? Have I missed anything, or am I pushing more hot air out the wrong set of cheeks again?
